01-23-2007, 01:14 AM
This is a true account of my visit to Andhra Pradesh this week
Posted by: "AH Venkitesh" ahvenkitesh@gmail.com viji123
Thu Jan 18, 2007 8:44 am (PST)
This was posted in orkut Hinduism Reloaded community by a Gurudutt
http://www.orkut. com/CommMsgs. aspx?cmm= 21896160& tid=250936705254 0275265
This is a true account of my visit to Andhra Pradesh this week. On 7th jan
I took off to Mantralayam a famous pilgrimage centre in AP. Mantralayam is
in Adoni district and is surrounded by poor villages.It is the holy place
where the great saint Sri Raghvendra swami entered jeevanta (alive) Samadhi
after performing 12 years of penance. A large number of devotees from
various parts of the country visit this sacred place every year.
I reached Mantralayam on 8th afternoon. I visited the temple premises and
then rented a room in the temple. Then I took of to the sacred place
Panchamukhi where Swami performed .penance for 12 years and were blessed
with the darshan of Lord Hanuman.
Mantralayam is a well connected town with good mobile network and transport
facilities. I hired a Rickshaw to Panchamukhi. A small village at 21 Km from
Mantralayam.
As we reached the outskirts of Mantralayam I saw a hamlet full of Christian
houses and a small church freshly painted in white. All houses were
distinctly marked with huge Crosses on doors and an image of Christ on every
house. I dismissed it as the local Christian population. Then as we moved
some 5 Km I saw another huge church with many Christian houses surrounding
it. Now I grew curious and started closely observing all the houses aside
the road. Majority of the houses were freshly decorated with colorful frills
and Happy Christmas Slogans, a remainder of the Christmas celebratioins. Now
we were at the entrance of Panchamukhi village with a huge Gopuram greeting
us. But I grew nervous at the site of a huge Church under construction here
with a big Red Cross hung atop.
I looked inside the autorickshaw and saw a photo of Lord Krishna pasted on
the top. I found hope and asked the driver in hindi why were so many
churches being built in this area. He replied in typical Andhra tone
addressing me as "Sir", he said "Sir every village in this district has more
then one church. Some villages have 100% Christian population. Foreign se
bahut paisa aata hai( Lot of money flows from foreign). They (missionaries)
build new houses for poor and give them vehicles like jeeps and rickshas for
a living. Sir this region is very poor and farmers have gone bankrupt due to
scant rains". He became quiet and I felt frustrated and the silence
continued. I visited the Panchmukhi temple , a peaceful and serene place.
While returning by the same road I again came across the Christian areas.
The houses of the converts were newly and well built. The church was abuzz
with activity with a huge crowd gathered in the compound. A old temple , few
yards away was in a shabby and locked state.
The same night I took a train for Titupati , the abode of Lord
Venkateshwara. I intended to get down at Renigunta Junction ,10 Km away from
Tirupati. As My train neared the Renigunta station I was greeted by the
glimpse of a huge Red colored Cross atop a newly built church. I reached
Tirumala by Bus and completed the darshan by evening. Then I returned to
Tirupati and visited Padmavati temple. Since I had few hours still left for
my train back to Mumbai, I visited the still being built, magnificent
Krishna temple of ISKCON. While returning from the interiors of the Tirupati
town by auto rickshaw I was shocked to see a huge Church named JAGANMATHA
CHURCH, the same one which we saw in the conversion video.
I am sure that Andhra Pradesh has atleast 40% Christians in the interior
remote areas.
I prayed to Lord Venkateshwara to help us stop this menace which is
destroying sanatana dharma and sanatana culture.
----------
Here is the the abstract of *184 pages* Ph D thesis:
This dissertation acknowledges the need for Church PlantingMovements among the unreached peoples of India. *Of particular concern to this study is the application of Church Planting Movement strategy to forward caste Hindus of India. * It traces the historical development of group or people movement strategy and then compares that strategy with traditional missionary approaches in India. It shows that evangelizing households is the primary strategy of the New Testament and the most appropriate strategy for initiating Church Planting Movements. The thesis carefully examines salvation understanding in the Hindu context and its relationship to the caste system. All of this lays a foundation for a proper approach to evangelization of forward caste Hindus in light of the fact that there have been no documented Church Planting Movements among forward caste Hindus in all of India.
*The paper concludes that the best approach to facilitating a Church Planting Movement among forward caste Hindus is by not planting churches.* As
contradictory as this sounds, the paper shows that Christian disciples remaining within Hindu culture and familial systems holds the potential for the most indigenous approach to establishing multiplying churches among forward caste Hindus.
**
Regards,
Satya
Posted by: "AH Venkitesh" ahvenkitesh@gmail.com viji123
Thu Jan 18, 2007 8:44 am (PST)
This was posted in orkut Hinduism Reloaded community by a Gurudutt
http://www.orkut. com/CommMsgs. aspx?cmm= 21896160& tid=250936705254 0275265
This is a true account of my visit to Andhra Pradesh this week. On 7th jan
I took off to Mantralayam a famous pilgrimage centre in AP. Mantralayam is
in Adoni district and is surrounded by poor villages.It is the holy place
where the great saint Sri Raghvendra swami entered jeevanta (alive) Samadhi
after performing 12 years of penance. A large number of devotees from
various parts of the country visit this sacred place every year.
I reached Mantralayam on 8th afternoon. I visited the temple premises and
then rented a room in the temple. Then I took of to the sacred place
Panchamukhi where Swami performed .penance for 12 years and were blessed
with the darshan of Lord Hanuman.
Mantralayam is a well connected town with good mobile network and transport
facilities. I hired a Rickshaw to Panchamukhi. A small village at 21 Km from
Mantralayam.
As we reached the outskirts of Mantralayam I saw a hamlet full of Christian
houses and a small church freshly painted in white. All houses were
distinctly marked with huge Crosses on doors and an image of Christ on every
house. I dismissed it as the local Christian population. Then as we moved
some 5 Km I saw another huge church with many Christian houses surrounding
it. Now I grew curious and started closely observing all the houses aside
the road. Majority of the houses were freshly decorated with colorful frills
and Happy Christmas Slogans, a remainder of the Christmas celebratioins. Now
we were at the entrance of Panchamukhi village with a huge Gopuram greeting
us. But I grew nervous at the site of a huge Church under construction here
with a big Red Cross hung atop.
I looked inside the autorickshaw and saw a photo of Lord Krishna pasted on
the top. I found hope and asked the driver in hindi why were so many
churches being built in this area. He replied in typical Andhra tone
addressing me as "Sir", he said "Sir every village in this district has more
then one church. Some villages have 100% Christian population. Foreign se
bahut paisa aata hai( Lot of money flows from foreign). They (missionaries)
build new houses for poor and give them vehicles like jeeps and rickshas for
a living. Sir this region is very poor and farmers have gone bankrupt due to
scant rains". He became quiet and I felt frustrated and the silence
continued. I visited the Panchmukhi temple , a peaceful and serene place.
While returning by the same road I again came across the Christian areas.
The houses of the converts were newly and well built. The church was abuzz
with activity with a huge crowd gathered in the compound. A old temple , few
yards away was in a shabby and locked state.
The same night I took a train for Titupati , the abode of Lord
Venkateshwara. I intended to get down at Renigunta Junction ,10 Km away from
Tirupati. As My train neared the Renigunta station I was greeted by the
glimpse of a huge Red colored Cross atop a newly built church. I reached
Tirumala by Bus and completed the darshan by evening. Then I returned to
Tirupati and visited Padmavati temple. Since I had few hours still left for
my train back to Mumbai, I visited the still being built, magnificent
Krishna temple of ISKCON. While returning from the interiors of the Tirupati
town by auto rickshaw I was shocked to see a huge Church named JAGANMATHA
CHURCH, the same one which we saw in the conversion video.
I am sure that Andhra Pradesh has atleast 40% Christians in the interior
remote areas.
I prayed to Lord Venkateshwara to help us stop this menace which is
destroying sanatana dharma and sanatana culture.
----------
Here is the the abstract of *184 pages* Ph D thesis:
This dissertation acknowledges the need for Church PlantingMovements among the unreached peoples of India. *Of particular concern to this study is the application of Church Planting Movement strategy to forward caste Hindus of India. * It traces the historical development of group or people movement strategy and then compares that strategy with traditional missionary approaches in India. It shows that evangelizing households is the primary strategy of the New Testament and the most appropriate strategy for initiating Church Planting Movements. The thesis carefully examines salvation understanding in the Hindu context and its relationship to the caste system. All of this lays a foundation for a proper approach to evangelization of forward caste Hindus in light of the fact that there have been no documented Church Planting Movements among forward caste Hindus in all of India.
*The paper concludes that the best approach to facilitating a Church Planting Movement among forward caste Hindus is by not planting churches.* As
contradictory as this sounds, the paper shows that Christian disciples remaining within Hindu culture and familial systems holds the potential for the most indigenous approach to establishing multiplying churches among forward caste Hindus.
**
Regards,
Satya